Posted by Matty on February 9, 2009, 16:11:33Message modified by board administrator February 9, 2009, 16:39:49

--Originally Posted 1/12/08--

I know I have complained recently about too much Fascination with Fascists, - even to the point where my buddy Don Czech reminded me that the Nazis in WWII did in fact deploy some very interesting weapons systems; some very cool subjects for modeling. So, to reassure Don that I had indeed realized that fact, let me now present a build I had already started much earlier: the aircraft which heavily damaged - very nearly sank - HMS Warspite with three "Fritz-X" guided bombs off of Sicily in 1943; the Dornier Do217k2 bomber.

The -k2 variant was somewhat different than the initial -k1, however it took me some long searching even to find a kit of the latter; the (now long OOP) Italeri kit, which I undertook to modify into a -k2:

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The Do217k2 had much longer wings than what you see here, and (I believe) also lacked the flat bombardier's panel which you can see protruding from the lower-starboard corner of the nose greenhouse. You have already seen some of my work to replace the latter with a modified replacement greenhouse dome, shown here and another one here. The work to extend the wings is also well underway - I will update you on that shortly.

However last weekend I set in to work on the interior, which is very basic OOB:

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Note the gaping void behind the pilot's (armored) chair, and radioman/gunner's chair perched on spindly legs, behind. Apparently, both of these features are (surprisingly) not too inaccurate (though apparently the radio operator's chair is really too large; see below) - and in fact the spindly chair legs installed quite reliably.

However the interior is woefully lacking in detail - particularly when you consider the high visibility which will exist through the all-glazed nose - and in fact here I have already added one improvement; thinning down and drilling out the pilot's rudder pedals, which apparently in real life were stirrup-like affairs (see below), not unlike bicycle toe clips.

But thick, featureless rudder pedals were among the least of Italeri's ommissions depicting interior details, which apparently should have looked more like this:

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This is a 1/48 scale Koster Models conversion set for a Do217m11 - close successor to the -k1 - and these pics have increasingly become inspiration for me on this build (particularly since I was able to obtain such astoundingly clear replacement greenhouse parts). Note the dramatic all-black and (for its day) high-tech-crammed interior; a cockpit-dry-brusher's dream! In any case, I resolved that I will give it my best shot.

Starting with installation of masses of instrument- and control panels:

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The first of which was a substitute for the (offensively) plain OOB pilot's "heads-up" instrument panel (still attached to sprue) which came in the kit. Here I have cut an approximate replacement (right) from the instrument panel of a Revell 1/48 F-104 (cheap) StarFighter kit I had lying around with dim prospect ever to be built. Note from the earlier Koster conversion pic (the righthand one) that this panel was apparently in real life mounted to the inside of the nose dome - and not on the pilot's control yoke, as depicted in the Italeri kit.

Considering Italeri's lack of attention to the cockpit overall, I trust Koster's depiction of the above insturment panel - in fact, of all their interior details - far more than my kit, and so am emulating them as best I can - not just for the instrument panel but throughout the whole interior:

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But where, you might ask, do you come up with so many spare instrument/control panels - surely I didn't cannibalize every other unbuilt aircraft model I have, right? The answer: Renwal cutaway Polaris sub interior consoles - scads of 'em in a single boneyard model - providing both the quantity and variety of layouts/shapes to cobble together almost anything! This layout which I achieved, with some consideration for the much smaller scale, is actually fairly true to the above, Koster interior - and will appear even more so when painted (I hope) properly.

Note I also installed a deck (white) underneath and further supporting the radioman/gunner's chair - again, fairly accurate per the Koster upgrade - which also indicates this chair was really more like a stool, however now I may now be able to cut down and otherwise modify it accordingly.

Note also on the port side (bottom pic) I have installed - incorrectly, as I soon realized - a support arm (white; out of focus) for the pilot's heads-up panel, as I didn't think I could successfully mount it directly to the inside of my small and delicate nose glass, as did Koster (in 1/48 scale). But instead of projecting so far forward and then up, as shown, my support should instead curve upward and then hook around forward; the whole support will then be much smaller, and more like Koster's depiction. (Whether some additional difficulty is being introduced by some inaccuracy in the Italeri pilot's position/cockpit geometry is also distinct possibility.)

In any case, I'm having a lot of fun bashing on this kit - it's good to get back to it, after a long period of neglect - and I hope to be able to show you some pretty cool progress, on this very cool plane, in the upcoming weeks.

Installing the belly well - a feature of later Do217k2s and subsequent models, to accommodate the fins of a centerline-mounted FX-1400 "Fritz-X" - could only be cut into the fuselage once closed-up - itself waiting, in turn, on completion of the cockpit detailing. Now protected (top-left) by the OOB canopies, temporarily attached and clad with tough, aluminum tape. The well was cut out and its interior made with plasticard (top-right), "fishing-in" the plates with plastic dowel "handles", attached perpendicularly to better indicate the orientation of each. When secure, the dowels were then cut off flush, and the entire area painted with ("gunmetal") silver (bottom), to best evaluate and adjust contours, after glazing/filling with a heavy coating of (talcom powder-) thickened superglue putty (not shown).

Meantime, continuing research brought me back to the subject of the machine guns:

Finally I concluded that the smaller-caliber (7.62mm) MGs were in fact the heavier-looking, square-backed ones from the kit (left, at top-left), the kit's more gracile ones being the actually heavier-caliber 13mms (and each type fitting into the mountings for the other, but not itself(!)) - nevertheless I popped out the installed guns and modied all of them as needed to fit their correct canopy- and belly window sockets (left, bottom), and dorsal turret fork (not shown). The former mod used CA-putty collars encircling their bases, later sculpted into enlarged ferrules, to make each fit snuggly, while the latter simply widened the gun block with plasticard (white), sufficent to engage the pins of the turret mount (not shown).

Additionally - though none of my reference pics clearly show it - the literature convinced me that the later-model Do217k2, such as in this build (with advanced belly well) also had a quartet of tail "stinger" MGs - depicted most simply by chopping the handles off of 4 additional castings (center, at top), bundling and then mounting them with barrels extending back from the tail (center, at middle and bottom). However I subsequently decided only the muzzles must have protruded, so, after lopping off the cluster of barrels (right, at top), the tail cone was restored - the stem of a 430-scale (Revell Arizona) lifeboat serving nicely as the replacement (right, at middle) - and the muzzles of yet more spare MG castings (purple) inserted through it. (Oiy Vey! )

The engine "detail" parts (left) are perhaps the worst feature of this kit - including flat, half-relief plates for the (front row only of) cylinders - though, in fairness these are largely obscured by large inlet fans (left, at bottom). Still, the latter attempt to exploit this with a fault of their own: inaccurately wedge-shaped blades (left, at middle-right), which additionally reduce visibility, further hiding shortcomings of the former - which I found particularly offensive, and so accurized the fan blades by simply by shaving them down into the thin, turbine-like affairs that they surely were. Likewise the cylinders, after the blank areas between them were cut open (left, at upper-middle) were backed by a second row, cut from some Hercules engine spares (left, at top left) conveniently provided by my doctored Airfix Halifax build. When fully assembled (left, at bottom), the improvements to the fan blades were very noticeable, though for the engine enhancements much less so (if not still completely irrelevant).

Definitely-noticeable improvement was obtained by the exhaust stacks (right), immediately on drilling open their ends - all 26 of them, total - so that they no longer looked like (solid) spare-ribs (or banannas )!

First, I stupidly (for some reason - other than that I'm just stupid ) used the upper surfaces as a testbed to experiment with masking-cutting, which accordingly left them deeply scratched (left), and refinishing involved tedious protection of the (remaining) panel-line detail aluminum tape - though in the process I learned this can be done much more quickly around panel lines if they are simply restored/extended periodically during the resurfacing.

A casualty, in turn, of all this elbow grease was the tail wheel (right) which, twice broken, was finally repaired with the brass reinforcing shown.

Missing or dimmed panel lines (particularly on the wings) were then re-scribed, and contours of the belly well now more clearly seen (left) - showing some considerable errors, now largely corrected (right).

Note also the round hole in the underside of the port wing: the location of a landing light, whose OOB clear part could never have come unscathed through all the CA-filling and grinding in that area. Instead, a reflector was scratchbuilt and installed both in the same steps (right): first, by hollowing-out a cone and "fishing" it in (right, bottom-left), using a thin plastic dowel mounted through its center. Once hardened, the surrounding glue/filler was smoothed/resurfaced (right, bottom-center), and the rod cut down to just a tiny stub, with glue droplet added to its tip, to make it into the light bulb! Sprayed silver (right, bottom-right), the reflector will be filled with white glue, drying clear and shiny, to make the lens. Easy - and better than the kit part - this light should be (yet) one more little gem of detail, on the finished build...

And that pretty much brings you up to date on this build - already seeing yet more progress even this weekend - and will be ready to get the main camo/paint job pretty soon, now.

Great dry brushing on the interior detail. The fans came out brilliant as did the "spare ribs" ha ha. The machine guns were amazing. Especially the tail unit.

It's refreshing to see a non-Battle of Britain Dornier. And especially one as important as these due to the fact that this squadron changed naval tactics considerably. Had the Jerry's perservered more with the Fritz, they could easily have turned the naval war in their favor.

Once again, we have German bureaucracy/inter department rivalry to thank for their ultimate defeat. This will be a stunning build when you're finished.

Discovering a welter of camos on Luftwaffe medium- and heavy bombers - almost each one different, yet none precisely what I am after - still I think I can get there by combining basic elements of the following two schemes (even though one is shown on a Ju88):

All together, so many disparate camouflage patterns were found that - within some very general boundaries - it seemed almost a case of "anything goes", and so I found it more useful to back away and get a more general picture of Luftwaffe camo (at least, for bombers), whose basic elements could then be mixed-and-matched, as desired:

Together, the entire set of historical reference pics clearly suggest an evolution in camo over the course of WWII. At the outbreak of hostilities, it appears most if not all Luftwaffe bombers wore a rather standard, daytime/land camouflage scheme: light undersides, mimicking the sky, with darker terrestrial colors - certainly greens and occasionally a brown and/or gray - on upper surfaces. For the great majority this was comprised on the undersides of a light blue-gray, and topsides with exactly the kind of two-tone-green, splinter-pattern as shown at top-left on a build of (coincidentally) the Italeri 1:72 Do217k2 kit. A real Do217k2 appears at lower-left, while all the others are Do217e variants. Note the upper/lower camo borders extend inward along hard, angled lines, coming to sharp points under the wings and tailplanes.

One significant variation on the standard type involved what I will call "high-sided" camo, in which the light underside color was carried up high on the fuselage - to wing-level, on the Do217 - as shown at top for the Do217e "US+ZN" (the artwork purporting to depict the plane at left, though note marking colors do not match), and at bottom for the Do217j "GG+YG". This pair of finds was lucky: the "e"-model being one of the earliest variants of Do217 while the "j"-model was a much later (all-weather gunship) version - proving this camo was either adopted or still remained in use during the mid-war years (our period of interest for the attack on Warspite).

Likewise - except even more pronounced - was the spread in Dornier vintages seen painted in a second, major daytime-camo variation:

Here at top-left, the much earlier Do215 - obsolete and largely if not fully retired from front-line service, by mid-war - is seen in a 4-color topside pattern, no doubt incorporating a light gray and medium-brown along with (probably the same standard) two greens as in the common splinter patterns - except this one having rounded/scalloped borders. At top-right, a variation on this from much later in the war - as again proven by its appearance on a Do217j - saw the light (probably same gray) color relocated to feather-edged lines, bordering the other 3 colors. At bottom, modellers' interpretations of similar camo on a Do24 seaplane fuselage and a Do217m, at left and right, respectively, agree fairly closely on these colors - though not constituting historical references, and so should be considered accordingly.

Some time into the war, a major new trend in Luftwaffe camouflage appeared:

Black paint was substituted for the earlier, light undersides, in a transition to a night- and/or high-altitude camouflage scheme, whose appearance on both "e"-model Do217s, at top, through to "k"-models, at bottom, again prove this camo persisted (at least) through mid-war. In the great majority of Do217 references - and in marked contrast to their daylight camo schemes - these black-underside patterns were high-sided, suggesting a definite bias towards the new nighttime (or again, high-altitude) operations. Indeed, these were developing yet further, to include lighter medium- and light gray topside colors - clearly a night camouflage, from top-to-bottom - as is presumed evident on the Do217k2 at bottom-left.

At top-left, note the base color of this Do217e is now entirely a uniform light (gray), overlaid with wavy, feathered dark (gray or black) lines - clearly sprayed on, apparently in the field, as according the wide range of styles/expertise apparent from one plane to the next, throughout these pics. At bottom - either on prototypes or perhaps for want of spray equipment - the scheme is degenerate/simplified down to reticulation by curving, black lines. This general type of camouflage was widespread, and accordingly is readily seen on models, as at right.

Meantime, going in another direction - yet in exactly the same, field-customized manner as above - the daytime camouflage schemes were also further modified:

This time with a clearly naval bent: in fact, this camo was explicitly called "Wave Mirror", and reputedly was highly effective over water. At left, the most common references show it on Ju88s, over base camos of both the daytime- and early nighttime types - the latter shown at top-right, where the overspray and underlying splinter pattern are both clearly discernible. This grafiti-like appearance became yet more pronounced when black lines were additionally sprayed over light undersides (at least, on the fuselage). At middle-left, both color drawings were attributed to aircraft in southern Italy and/or the Mediterranean, where Warspite was hit.

Also doing extensive naval work - also in the Mediterranean - Do217s wore this style of camo, as at right. Again, note the wide variety - again, undoubtedly styled by each crew - the Do217e at top-left having (relatively) artistically-sprayed wavelets, while at middle-left and in the two pics at right (the latter, and possibly all three, showing the same plane) having what look like more crude harsh-marks or even alphabetic characters (actual grafiti, complete with periods (!)). At bottom, a ropy pattern - extending unusually down over the (notably darker) underside color - was photographed on a Do217m - again strongly arguing that such camo also appeared on the earlier, "k"-model. This is the camo type - Wave Mirror - except over a high-sided Daytime pattern - that I want to put on my Do217k2 build - if I can devise a way to apply it, without an airbrush, in tiny 1:72 scale...!

So, that's quite a variety of camos - some of them very cool-looking - to appear on Luftwaffe bombers. (Too bad they were f-ing Nazis...!)

"I never had any luck with that particular ("Wave Mirror" camouflage) scheme although I have seen it done and quite well. It is visually attractive on a model. I just never could get my airbrush dialed down fine enough and/or the proper pressure set. Plus, I have little or no hand-eye coordination for that sort of work. I think that was a fairly late-war scheme, '44 or so...I have not researched that specifically, but I get the impression that the (Dornier) -17s took heavy losses beginning with the BofB and their numbers continued to decline steeply on the Eastern Front...(so) I'm not sure how many Dorniers were left at that point.

But nevertheless, I am sure you will crack the code and it will be an impressive finish...Happy building!"

An answer for you and Gus

Posted by Don Murphy on February 20, 2011, 13:14:08, in reply to "Squiggles"

--Originally Posted 2/20/11--

Have you guys considered paint pens? Good heavens do they make stuff QUICK and EASY. Let me give you an example: the delicate scroll work on USS Constitution's stern. Black wood with gold scroll work. How do you paint that?

Spray your gloss black over the wood and use a gold paint pen to pick out the gold. Voila. How long would that take you to do freehand with a brush? And like Gus says, you'd never be able to airbrush that. Go to Michaels or some similar craft store and take a test drive. They have ten or so Testor's brand and then there's "professional" type pens there as well. Thick tip, medium and fine point. All there in all colors.

Just picked a fine tip silver one up to do 1/700th scale aircraft canopies. Saves you time and you can as accurate as you want with little regard to hand shake or other jittery problems. They are under $5.00 and are intense value for money.

Those paint pens do sound great - and you have already demonstrated how good they can look, in a couple examples (plus, looking forward to seeing your 1:700 jets) - so Thanks for that suggestion, Don. However, what Gus and I were discussing (above) were all highly feathered patterns - you know, with fuzzy edges blending away into the background color(s).

Not to worry, though, as I already completely developed a method to get exactly what I'm after, and (you must've missed where I) already posted it: my "Extracted-Bead" Method. Although it's quite a bit of work (believe me, I'd love to be able just to draw these on, feathered!), it's highly effective - and quite flexible for doing any feathered shape(s), thick or thin.

You may recognize this specific camo scheme, Donny: it's on (a Ju87 Stuka on) the cover of the Guide to Airbrushing book you sent me - which just arrived yesterday! I already skimmed the article, and they do indeed admit that it's very difficult - even with an airbrush (which I don't even have) - plus I think their pattern still looks a bit too "close-packed", and mine is going to look better, anyway! So, stay tuned for that.

And again, Thanks for the info on the paint pens, Don!

Cheers,

-Matty

Squiggle Study Program

Posted by Matty on January 12, 2011, 21:37:26, in reply to "Squiggles"

Thank you for that vote of confidence in my abilities, Gus - may I suggest my starting-point solution for the airbrushing difficulties: don't use an airbrush! Seriously, I don't see how even an airbrush could do this right, at 1:72 scale - and don't even have one, in any case - but I do indeed have some ideas - already testing them out, and more developing all the time, with promising results - and hope to (royally) prove your confidence well placed.

As for the likelihood of Warspite's attacker wearing this Wave Mirror camo, I am all but positive this one came well before the later, night-fighter (black-over-gray) patterns - ultimately coming factor-painted, as feathered blotches - which you are probably thinking of. The earlier, field-sprayed "squiggles" - and particularly the light-oversprayed, Wave Mirrror treatments, which could well have come yet earlier still - were documented for aircraft in southern Italy, which was all a done deal by 1944. And as for the aircraft themselves, remember these are the Dornier 217s - not the earlier '17s, which they were specifically designed to replace - due, as you rightly point out, to the '17s withdrawal as obsolete/inadequate, after their decimation over Britain, etc..

So I'm pretty well convinced that this aircraft, this camo scheme and the attack on Warspite all coexisted in the same place- and time - and even could well be accurate for the particular aircraft in question (though I didn't find a single picture of any plane from Kg100, which was its Group).

Of course, per my philosophy I wouldn't let any minor historical inaccuracy(ies) stop me from completing it the way I find most attractive/interesting, in any case.

So, stand by for results of my "squiggle research" - which I'm already taking pics of, on my bench, even now - and thanks again for the encouragement, Gus!

I really have zero excuse for this model now being exactly THREE years, still uncompleted - along with so many of my other builds - except for the latter I can now at least make the (admittedly lame) claim of holiday distractions - socializing, and whatnot - including spending time on these three guys, who almost sank HMS Warspite, in 1943:

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This is my Do217-k2 build: the plane (or one like it) which hit HMS Warspite - once directly and perhaps another (of two) near-miss(es) - with "Fritz-X" guided bombs, off the Sicily invasion beaches. Over the holidays I suddenly returned to work on this build, wondering why neither its crew nor fuselage-halves had yet been joined, as I cleaned off and installed the (rotating) clear turret, its (elevating) machine gun and radioman/gunner, and closed up the fuselage.

Not, however, before struggling to fit the gunner, who - even chopped off clear up to the knees - still wouldn't fit under the dome until one arm was also repositioned - and even now you can see the machine gun barely clears his face. Profoundly bad fit - to be blamed on Italeri, who really do not appear to have seriously designed this turret to accept a gunner - although this is clearly (if superficially) intended by the instructions, which likewise obviously confuse both names and illustrations of (otherwise excellently detailed) machine guns - light 7.9mm vs heavy 13mm - which go in different locations, though test-fitting soon reveals only the latter fit/function properly in the turret yoke provided, and the former elsewhere (see below), so one of my copper-reinforced resin castings was installed accordingly.

The should have provided a major clue, answering my original question, however still oblivious I went on to install the pilot and (standing) bombardier figures, as well as thin ledges of (white) Plastruct strip forward, to accept/seat the cockpit canopy, the latter proving particularly difficult along the sides, which curve in two planes - both upward and outward - to necessitate (at least) 3 segments of stripping, to fit decently along each. (In retrospect, it would have been easier/cleaner to fit the edge of thin (0.03" or finer) sheet, attach and then shave its top edge down to size.) In any case, only then did I realize yet another reason for the prior delay in fuselage closure:

Note in these pics the primary difference from earlier - in addition to the cockpit canopy sills now being painted - the additional crew detail-painting, including some parachute straps (left, at top-left), but particularly their goggles, which make a major impact - except on the radioman/gunner, who can never get them now, locked in prematurely as he is, nevertheless very highly-visible under his dome. That really sucks - what with crew visibility being a major feature of this build. And also cockpit interior visibility: fact is, in additon to still not fitting very well with the machine gun, the intensely problematic radioman figure also completely obscures some otherwise highly visible and just gorgeous (if entirely made-up) details of the radio-bench, installed with some effort. Finally, it turns out also that the fuselage is woefully short of contents below the radio post, in the keel "bathtub" gun position, as visible both through that dome as well as directly through the nose dome, under the pilot. Thus, I am now considering reaching carefully back under there with some foreceps, breaking out the gunner, in his seat, replacing the latter and then repositioning him (or a replacement for this much-mangled figure) kneeling in the bottom of the interior, attending the bathtub gun: obviously the solution for which I had paused to realize - though I didn't, at least consciously, and certainly didn't remember it - when stopping work where I did, all these months ago.

Still, it's easy to see how the progress inspires the drive to finish - even getting ahead of the plan - as demonstrated by the remarkable pic at right, where all the detailing and perhaps a trick of the light combine to just "pop" the appearance - particularly that of the pilot - suddenly into remarkable realism, IMHO. Ergo, I continued with further progress, to prepare the top canopy:

The replacement canopy is of course thermoplastic (probably "PET"), heat-formed over the kit part, and still needing rectangular cutouts (left, top) to accept machine-gun-mount inserts, the little triangular-block clear pieces shown. Again, the (now light 7.9mm) machine guns, though correctly labelled in the instructions are clearly shown (including in the photo of the built kit) incorrectly - but regardless only these moldings each have a flared ferrule, ending in a recessed ring at the base of the barrel, which can thus be pushed through the hole in its mounting to snap perfectly in place, allowing it (uncemented, of course) to flex, much like the real thing. Meantime, note these guns are just gorgeous - some of the nicest in styrene 1:72 that I've ever seen.

To support the flexible canopy during cutting, non-stretching, tight-gripping aluminum (HVAC) tape secured it excellently while I first drilled a tiny hole (like, about 0.010" diameter) just inside each of two corners, and then painstakingly and very conservatively whittled along first one edge and then another, all the while constantly checking size against the insert, laid alongside, until finally rewarded with fit so precise that each insert literally snapped securely into its cutout with a "pop" - again not even requiring glue, though I did apply some canopy glue (left, bottom and at right), for good measure. Note at right the canopy - even half out-of-focus, and the other half filthy from all the handling - promises a severely-clear view, into what is already inherently about the highest-visibility cockpit of any aircraft short of, say, a Bell-47 "bubble"-nose chopper: you can appreciate my eagerness to get to that point - but again, I will be very thankful, I'm sure, to first relocate the radioman/gunner out of that seat and - completely painted/detailed this time (!) - into the belly gun position. Plus - I realized, in any case - I should also complete as much as possible of the remaining glue-work - tail installation, engines (which can go in sans propellers) and cutting the belly well for the "Fritz-X" (which should have been done before any of the interior - water now long under the bridge ) - prior to securing the vulnerable nose glass. All to be posted - in agonizing, excruciating detail, I promise - if you will kindly stay tuned...

That has got to be the most stunning cockpit work I've ever seen of ANYTHING. At first glance, I thought it was a real photo of pilots sitting in their seats. Had to take a double-take. Even more chilling was that you wrung so much detail out of Italeri plastic.

Gunners are tough, period. I pretty much leave them out whenever possible. Pretty killer stuff all around.

WOW - that is quite a compliment, especially coming from you, Donny - seeing as how you are the best cockpit-interior building, dry-brushed-instrument-panel painting modeller I know!

In all honesty, that phenomenal appearance of my pilot's face must have been (at least) partly a trick of the lighting, at that moment - because, out of a whole parts-box full of those 72-scale figures, I've never noticed such realism on any of them before. Of course, until I snap these (macro) closeups, and enhance them on-screen at 20x life-size, I don't know what the hell they really look like, anyway!

But these are definitely "Italeri plastic", as you say - each with the separate arms and upper/lower body parts, that you assemble in the desired pose - though maybe from their Heinkel He-111 kit, however all Italeri 1:72 aircraft figures are the same, IIRC. If I can determine anything(s) more specific, I'll certainly let everybody know.

Meantime, I'll definitely "wear" the compliment - and with great pride, coming from you, buddy!

Here is the crew of my Do217k2, rolling around laughing their butts off:

I don't know what they're laughing about; they've all had their shoulder joints chopped up - the radioman even had his feet cut off - and now they've all just been drenched with Testors Natural Wood (#1241)! I realize this is a pretty brown color for these Germans' flesh tones - but I figure these jokers, operating out of Italy to attack HMS Warspite off Sicily, have been getting quite a tan under the Mediterranean sun.

Seriously, I do rather like the Italeri figures, with their separate upper- and lower bodies, adjustable at the waist, and separate arms. Crew figures really take a lot of time, for what they are - so it is gratifying to be able to depict them actually doing something - with both their hands and feet - rather than just sitting there.

No doubt my crew, above, are finding it outrageous that my last installment on this build was virtually an entire year ago! But they don't know Uncle Matty - who will finish this build, just like I did with my Nell - and am in fact just now completing what has by far been the hardest work of all:

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The wing extension; expanding the kit's Do217k1 wings to the longer ones of the -k2, has a long and tortuous history, as attested by the many colors of plastic and putty visible here. Some of these plastics were of very different hardness - and the various putties even more so - which made smoothing extremely difficult. Particularly while trying constantly to preserve the panel lines, etc.; tediously taping and re-taping over the (raised) detail, protecting it while sanding.

When looking into the glare of a light (right), some minor "wows" are still visible - good thing this plane isn't getting a shiny aluminum finish - but I don't think they will show under the complex and flat-finish camouflage to be applied.

It took all weekend - of intermittent sanding, re-puttying and re-smoothing - to get to this point. But just one more sanding pass, on one wing, and these should be done!

After which I will paint some clothes onto my shameless crew, above, so they can be strapped into the fuselage, along with a few other necessary items, before closing her up, permanently.

Didn't get a chance to post this progress before having to go on the road all last week, but I did manage to get in some important licks beforehand:

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Including painting all of the augmented interior panels with which I must admit to having become pretty much obsessed. Although it did improve their appearance (sorry for the poor [low-light] photography), it did also highlight the outright misalignment of several of them.

Still, I am happy with the overall composition and effect when the fuselage halves come together:

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You can see the crew seats will block much of the view - even more so, once the crew figures are installed - so all the added instruments should not be overpowering.

Indeed, yet another item which will block some of the view - a cool feature in itself - is the pilot's little heads-up panel:

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Note also the twin (red) throttle levers, in this view. I don't feel particularly bad about showing these now, as visibility will no doubt fall off greatly once the canopies (despite their remarkable clarity) are installed.

The two best views through the nose glazing will probably be from these angles:

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Again, sorry for some of the goofy exposures (right); it was late, dark and I was tired!

I don't know about you, but my technique for the above type of painting is pretty darn time consuming:

Meantime, in between the above steps I started work on a very interesting assembly, beginning with this:

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Any idea(s) what this could be a start on? Anybody...Beuller...Beuller? I'll tell you what it was - the green, oval thing - it was the cap/end of a muffler from a 1/35 scale army truck! Now any guesses?

How about with this clue:

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That's right, it's a weapon - 'Da Bomb!

Specifically, and for anyone(s) still in the dark, the Fritz-X guided bomb:

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Here two are depicted; one each mounted under the wing roots of a Do217k2. HMS Warspite was savaged by three of these - two in very damaging near misses and one in a direct hit, amidships - thus, a minimum of two attacking aircraft must have been involved.

The above drawing does not show the oblate form of the bomb's tailfin assembly, for which the above muffler cap provided an ideal supporting armature:

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With (white) plasticard building up the tail over this form, you can start to see how the pieces are going to look and come together (later to be accompanied by the wings, of course). If the warhead looks a little too narrow, while the cone-shaped fairing around its base too short, don't worry; the plan is to cast these parts in solid resin, after which it will become very easy to sculpt/adjust them to the precise, final contours desired. Then to be cast in perfect copies; for this build and others (including, maybe,yours…?)

So, that's pretty cool - in a vicious, Fascist sort of a way - huh?

Seriously though, this build really does include some rather remarkable and interesting shapes and appearances, which AFAIK were never exactly repeated, either before or since.

I got around to carefully trimming free the nose greenhouse dome created in our last clear parts production; the one shown still attached to its (yellow resin) armature, in the bottom row, 2nd from left, in the following pic:

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It was indeed much sturdier than the initial, thinner-guage attempt while remaining, like all of them, just astoundingly clear.

I noted that to really trim and prepare these parts cleanly, all the work must be done while the part is still on the armature. So, after cleanup of the above dome, I tried remounting another, earlier molding which had been removed before trimming:

Note what looks like condensation under the dome is actually a generous layer of white glue; some parts - like this one - do not want to cling to the armature and thus have to be temporarily glued (though it did take a long time for the white glue to harden, shielded as it was from the air). Afterwards, the water-soluble glue should then be removeable by soaking.

The above, gorgeous nose dome additionally inspired me to reconsider the expected visibility into the cockpit, and whether- and which details to possibly augment beyond those already installed:

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Although many are hard to see in their dark plastic, instrument panel boxes essentially now cover every inch of the interior; regardless whether accurate or not.

Finally, I corrected the mounting arm for the pilot's heads-up panel - corrected it both in appearance and function (right pic; steel wire); it now curves upward parallel with, and just inside of, the forward canopy hoop. And being a steel wire sunk into the forward control panel, it now has sufficient strength to endure the way it should (which the prior, sliver of resin certainly did not).

Once again, these greatly-enlarged pics look pretty lousy compared to the appearance of the real thing; I can only hope painting will make her pics look as good as she actually does, IMHO, in person.

In any case, I'm very happy with the results so far and looking forward to finishing this build. Will keep you posted...